Improved process of obtaining wrought-iron directly from the ore



not ggiatw patent out.

- GHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 95,295, dated September 28, 1869; antedatedSeptember 16, 1869.

IMPROVED'PROCESS OP OBTAINING- WROlTGHT-IRON DIRECTLY FROM THE OiRE. l

The Schedule referred to in these Letters .latent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that \\'r,JA1\IES D. WHELPLEY and JACOB J. STORER, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have inventeda new and useful Process for Obtaining Wrought-Iron Directly from the Ore; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same.

The leading features of our process for the manufacture of iron and steel are based upon the principles of minute pulverization of the ore to be reduced, and the employment of the machine blow-pipe patented to us, March 13, 1866.

When the blast, conveying particles of carbon, floated, as dust, in its aiiacurrent, is employed, and isdirected along a heated flue,.or through an oven, by regulating and proportioning the supply of air and coal properly to each other, we obtain a carbonizing or reducingfl'amea neutral flame, or one which does not oxidize or quickly Carbonize, and which may readily be made to give a welding-heat-or an oxidizing-flame, at the will of the operator, and thus the machine blow-pipe, or carbon-blast, gives us full control of all reasonable temperatures, and of all degrees of carburization and deoxidatiou of ores and metals required in metallurgy. In the selection and employment of fluxes, the met-v allurgist will always be guided by an analysis of the ore to be worked, and the added ingredient-s must be adjusted by the operator to supplement the impurities to be eliminated from the ores. To form slags that shall fuse at low temperature, anddemand the smallest possible sacrifice of iron in their formation, we prefer to so adjust the ingredients forming the slag, by observation of the character of the impurities of the ore, and selection of the fluxes to be added, that complex, and not simple slags shall be formed. The ingredients of the fluxes added are such as are well known to metallurgists; carbonates and oxides,particularly, of the alkalies and alkaline earths; silica, if the ore be deficient in that; chlorides and fluorides of the earths and alkalies, to reduce the point of fusion, and more effectively eliminate sulphur; (oxides of the less noble metals, such as lead and zinc, may often be used to advantage in eliminating sulphur and its congeners;) nitrates orehlorates oi the alkalies and earths, to oxidize ox'idizable impurities. These all are indicated by ordinary metallurgic knowledge for use as fiuxes,.-and will be selected by the operator with a due regard to economy and efliciency.

The treatment of an ore by our process consists of three manipulations:

Man-ipulatimt I.

The ore is first pulverized to dust. This is best done by means of our patented mills. In the process of puh'erizing, suitable reagentsmlsb finely pulvenzed,

are mingled with it, to act as fluxes, and eliminate the impurities of the ore. I

This fine pulverization and intimate mixture of the ore and reagents give, measurably, the economics of time, fuel, and labor, which characterize the process, and exert acontrol over the purity and character of the iron and steel produced.

Manipulation The finelypulverized material is spread (to the depth of a few inches) on the floor of a reverberatory furnace, and is there exposed, with freqnent stirring, to the flame of the machine blow-pipe. The furnace should, prelerably, have a hearth of wrought-iron,

The flame should be oxidizing until the material has been raised to a bright-red. At this point, the volatile impurities are eliminated or nentralized, and the sulphur and phosphorus do not after this appear in the iron in injurious excess. The oxidizing-flame is then changed to the carbonizing or reducing-flame, and the operation continued without raising the temperature. If the ore be constantly stirred, about half an hours working in the furnace will bring the charge to nature, or reduce the iron.

Here the second manipulation is varied, ifwe desire to produce steel from what it would be it we wish only to get blooms. If steel is to be produced, the reducing or carbonizing-flmne is continued, and the iron rapidly absorbs carbon.

The degree of carbonization is determined by the length of 4 exposure to the carbon-blast. An hourin cle being, as it were, jacketed with the slag formed of the earthy impurities and added fluxes.

The important point in this manipulation seems to usto be, that the ore is deoxidized, brought-to nature,

and carburetted to any desired degree, at a tempera-- ture below the fusing-point of the fluxes, and that w hen the fluxes are fused, a'very small percentage of oxide of iron is present to be sacrificedby combining with the slag.

Alloys of iron, with manganese, tungsten, chromium, and the like, can best be obtained by mixing their oxides, salts, or cau'burets, with the ore in the .iirst manipulation. i

A small qlumtity of coal and carbonate of lime, pul- N, Mass-AA verizedwith the ore in the first manipulation, generates carbonic oxide in the mass during the second, and the charge is thus rendered porous, and more permea ble to the carbon-blast, so that the work of reduction is somewhat more rapid and complete.

By sampling the charge in the furnace, the progress of the work is ascertained, and the process may be stopped at any required stage of reduction or carburizat-ion.

llIanipula-tion III.

machine blow-pipe attached.

1 the furnace would be squeezed, hammered,

nace, lined with refractory material, and having the A high heat is required to melt the steel, and. sepa-. rate .it from slag, which will float, and may be drawn elf at will. When melted, it will be sampled and tested, and, if too highly carbonized, reduced, by'adding slightly-carbonized sponge, wrought-iron, iron oxide, or other oxidizing-substances. If of too low a grade, its grade may be raised by adding highly-car bonized sponge, cast-iron, or carbon. We prefer, how ever, to control the degree of carbonization by the flame of the blow-pipe attached to the melting-furnace.

We claim the process of obtaining wrought-imnaud its alloys directly fromthe ore, in the manner, and with the manipulations, and order of manipulation, substantially as described.

' TIAMES 1). WHELPLEY.

\Vitnesscs JAGOB J. STORER.

Tues. WM. CLARKE,- FRED. W. LQNGLEY. 

